CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Qaeda’s leader said Egypt’s military coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provides proof that Islamic rule cannot be established through democracy, and urged the Islamist leader’s followers to abandon the ballot box in favour of armed resistance.

In a 15-minute audio message posted online late Friday, Ayman al-Zawahri also lashed out at the Egyptian military, the country’s secular and liberal elites as well as the Coptic Christian minority, accusing them of conspiring against Morsi solely because he was an Islamist.

Egypt’s army ousted Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader, on July 3 after days of mass protests demanding the president’s removal. The coup has divided the nation into rival camps, with an array of liberal and secular Egyptians supporting the military’s move and Morsi’s supporters and Islamist allies rejecting it.

“We have to admit first that legitimacy does not mean elections and democracy, but legitimacy…